IOU
by bigbangtheoryk8
Summary: Reid is back with the team but the woman who tried to kill him is still out there. As they try to find her, they realize she was right under their noses all along. Sequel to All I Want For Christmas is you DEAD. Please read that one first
1. Deliah, the Flying Buffalo

**I do not own any criminal minds characters, but I do own Deliah the Flying buffalo**

"Please tell me you arrested Jenny." These were the first words Reid uttered after the greetings and exchanges of cheerful, "Merry Christmas" s were thrown around. Reid pulled himself back up on the bed from the position he had taken when Gideon was hugging him, him sitting on the edge of the bed, his legs dangling over the side. Reid looked around hopefully at his teammates but was met with a very sudden and uncomfortable silence. Everyone had forgotten that there was an insane woman out there with a vendetta against their young genius. Reid sighed. Of course they hadn't arrested her. "Do you know where to find her?" He asked. The team members shifted uncomfortably. "Do you know her last name?" Reid asked with annoyed finality.

"I'm sorry, Reid, you know more about her than we do." Morgan said softly, averting his gaze from the stricken look on the kid's face. "We only know she is a woman who hates you named Jenny."

"Come on, you guys. You're profilers. What else can you figure out?" Reid asked, furrowing his brows and pursing his lips, a familiar expression for the youngest team member. It meant he was annoyed, scared, thinking, or about to cry.

Hotch looked at his team. They had started on a profile but hadn't finished because they were more focused on finding Reid. "Mid to late thirties, nine to five job, menial career, most likely a waitress or office worker. We had to jump to conclusions. We . . . didn't have much to go on."

"How do you figure nine to five?" Reid asked.

"Based on when you were taken and when we called your phone." Morgan supplied.

"I don't remember you calling my phone." Reid said, befuddled.

"You weren't there, I don't think." Garcia said. "I tracked your phone before it was turned off or broken. You might need a new phone."

Blake continued their account of the events that had transpired in the young profiler's absence. "We went to the house that Garcia found-"

Reid moaned and sat straight up. "Please tell me you didn't blow yourselves up." He studied his teammates for wounds and finding none, he let out a sigh of relief.

"What?" Hotch was puzzled as to what Reid was talking about.

Gideon spoke up. "You went to the house, right?" Blake nodded. "Did she wire it with explosives?" The team shook their heads, wondering how they hadn't considered it would be wired.

"Thank god." Reid sighed, becoming prone again. The thought nagged at Hotch's mind. Why hadn't she taken the opportunity? If she really was a psychopath, murdering five people would have been no big deal, but instead, she had let them find their friend. Why? She wanted Reid dead. Why hadn't she allowed him to bleed to death in a ditch behind a rest stop?

Garcia was holding Reid's hand and stroking his hair. "Do you want anything Reid? Cookies? Cocoa? Coffee?"

Reid perked up at the mention of coffee but shook his head. "I just want that bitch caught." He said. The team was slightly shocked at hearing Reid curse, but realized what she had done to him had been really disturbing. They had found him with a skeleton's arm wrapped around his shoulder, lying in the freezing snow in a pool of his own blood. Lying next to the decomposed body of the man who had tortured and drugged him for two days and been the second man Reid had had to kill to save his own life.

"Can you remember anything about her?" Hotch asked gently.

Reid closed his eyes and thought back to the face of the maniac, moonlight glinting off her green eyes that had a look of sick, psychopathic pleasure. He shivered as he recalled her sticking her fingers in his wound to write the useless message on the wall. What a waste of blood. She certainly was insane. Why miss out on killing him and the team, then? It didn't make sense.

Reid furrowed his brow deeper and said, "Caucasian. Female, obviously. Curly hair, brown. Green eyes. Scary green eyes; so full of insanity. " He opened his eyes and blinked back into the present. His friends looked concerned at his last sentence, but he ignored their looks of worry and turned to look at Hotch. "She would have been pretty if she wasn't so. . . " Reid shuddered, not wanting to relive his pain again. He hated his family seeing him so vulnerable; so weak. He inwardly groaned as he saw Garcia's eyes full of sympathy as she continued to pet his hair. She was going to smother him to death.

"Let's not talk about it anymore." Garcia said. "Subject changer: flying buffalo named Deliah!"

The team chuckled at Garcia's insanity and the small smile she earned from Reid. "Who's Deliah?" Morgan chuckled.

"Weren't you listening? A flying buffalo!" Reid answered with a laugh. Garcia grinned down at him.

Hotch pondered Reid's description of the girl. She sounded familiar. He had seen her before. Hotch was sure of it. But where? Where? The unit chief started to wish he had Reid's memory.

After Christmas, each member of the team took turns staying with Reid. He had to stay in the hospital for another two weeks, one of which for observation. Reid was well protected by his team. They watched over him. Little did they know that Jenny was watching as well.

Gideon hung around the hospital a lot. He didn't have anything better to do than visit the tortured genius. Reid was glad for his additional company. He had severely missed his mentor. Gideon sometimes disappeared for a couple of hours; he never told Reid what he was doing or where he had gone, but Reid figured he was looking for Jenny. He wasn't looking hard enough. She was right underneath their noses.

Hotch was watching as Reid slept when Gideon walked in, an expression of frustration and anger worn on his wrinkled face. "No luck?" Hotch whispered, not wanting to wake the young survivor. Gideon shook his head dejectedly. Hotch sighed and looked at Reid. He hated that all their efforts to find this bitch were in vain. He hated failing Reid again. Something was still bothering him. "Jason. . . There's something that's been nagging me about this whole thing." The older man looked at him and sat down on the other side of Reid's bed. He nodded as an indication for Hotch to continue. "Why would she give us a clue? Why wouldn't she let him die? Hurting the team was never her intention. She had a chance to hurt us, but she didn't. Her sole intention was hurting Reid. So why let us find him? Why involve the team?"

Jason thought for a minute, then said, "Maybe she knew where he would end up."

"The hospital?" Hotch asked, gesturing to the room. Gideon nodded. Hotch slowly shook his head. "No, he's safe here."

"He is when we're here." Gideon said with a small smile.

Hotch knew this was true. As long as the team was there, no one would dare try to hurt their boy wonder. Boy Wonder? He was spending way too much time with Garcia.

As if on cue, Garcia burst in, singsonging, "Hello, my fine furry friends." She was carrying a light blue bag on her shoulder. Reid opened his eyes groggily and sat up, propped against the pillows. His face brightened when he saw Garcia.

"Garcia, do you have your computer?" Hotch asked, pointing at the bag.

"As a matter of fact, I did happen to bring my laptop along. I was hoping to get to watch some Doctor Who with my Junior Gman." Reid grinned, hoping to be able to see the Christmas episode with Peter Capaldi.

"I need you to check out all the nurses and doctors that work here. Look for anyone named Jenny." Hotch said. Garcia and Reid looked shocked as they realized Hotch thought the would-be killer was lurking around the hospital.

Garcia nodded furiously. " Yes sir." She said and she sat down in Hotch's recently vacated seat and began typing furiously.

"Well?" Gideon asked after a couple of minutes.

"A couple of Jenny's, but none matching Reid's description. One redhead, two blonds, and one with straight black hair." Garcia answered, staring at her computer screen.

"The hair doesn't matter. She could have dyed her hair or something." Reid said. "Any with green eyes?"

"Just the blond." Garcia answered, turning her computer screen to face Reid. He squinted at the picture of the smiling nurse on the screen. He shook his head.

The others let out a collective sigh of relief. Jenny wasn't at the hospital. Well, she wasn't on staff. That much they knew.


	2. The Wise Words of Nietzche

Reid was watching the Christmas special Doctor Who episode and as the Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver, Reid realized something. He pressed the spacebar on Garcia's laptop, pausing the video.

"Hey, what up with dat?" Garcia said, trying to sound annoyed but letting her voice shake with laughter. Reid ignored her and turned to Hotch, who was sitting in the chair beside Reid's bed, staring at him, concerned.

"Hotch, where are my effects?" He asked. Hotch cocked an eyebrow as he stood and wordlessly crossed the room to a table by the window. He picked up a large plastic bag and handed it to Reid.

Reid opened it and fished through his belongings. His jeans, converse, blood stained shirt, and boxers were all in the bag. All of his clothes had at least small splatter of dried blood. It made him sick. But he did manage to notice there were a few things missing. He dug his hand in the pants pocket. Nothing. Reid groaned. "My badge and gun." He said.

"What about them?" Garcia asked. Hotch had a look on his face that indicated he knew what Reid was going to say.

"They're gone." Reid answered.

"Are you sure you didn't just leave them at your apartment?" Garcia asked hopefully.

"I would remember if I did." Reid answered. "Eidetic memory."

"You were shot, you passed out before she took her out of there." Garcia was trying to deny the conclusion her colleagues were jumping to.

"Hotch, you guys went to my apartment. Did you find them?" Reid asked, glancing at his superior.

"We didn't look for them." Hotch said.

"I was holding my gun when she shot me. I had my badge in my pocket. . Along with my credentials." Reid griped.

"They weren't there." Hotch said softly.

Reid sighed. "Jenny has them."

Reid was visited that night by the all too familiar nightmare he had been having since his third year at the BAU. He had had it many times more after Gideon left. There was the baby, in the middle of a circle. How has this baby not grown at all? There's someone on the other side.

_No, I can't let them hurt this baby. No._ Suddenly, the baby grew and turned into a five year old boy. Riley Jenkins. He sat up and looked at Reid with wide eyes. "_Why aren't you helping me_?" He cried. The figure on the other side of the circle was moving closer. Reid had to save this boy. He started to run, but the circle moved away from him with each step, taking the boy with it. It was getting closer to the killer. Then, it turned into something he did not expect.

"_Spencer, help me!_" came Maeve's voice. She was sitting cross legged with her hands clasped as if they were tied together with invisible rope. A shot rang out and Maeve slumped to the ground.

"Reid? Reid, wake up." He felt a hand on his shoulder and whirled around. "Reid, wake up." The hand stayed on his shoulder no matter how hard he tried to get it off.

Reid had been sleeping peacefully until he started turning his head from side to side, silent tears rolling down his cheeks as he murmured, "No. . . No, no, no. Please." Morgan and Gideon were alarmed. (Hotch had gone home to be with Jack). Gideon got up and shook Reid's shoulder gently. "Reid? Reid, wake up." His face was stoic but his voice betrayed how worried he was. "Reid, wake up." Out of nowhere, the young agent started flailing his arms around, trying to get free of Gideon's grasp.

"C'mon, pretty boy, wake up. You're scaring us." Morgan said, joining Gideon at Reid's side. Reid was turning his head back and forth, murmuring one word that worried the hell out of his friends: Maeve.

Morgan looked at Gideon with panic and Gideon shook Reid's shoulder harder. It wasn't working. He wasn't waking up. Whatever was happening with him and Maeve was pulling him deep into his mind and they weren't sure how to get him out of it. Gideon looked sad and reached for the glass of water on Reid's bedside table. Morgan looked at him and shook his head, but Gideon wasn't looking at him. Morgan braced himself. Gideon lifted the glass that was half full of water over Reid's face and turned it over.

Reid gasped in shock and turned paler than ever as he sat straight up, his eyes wide and unblinking. He gasped several more time and started breathing heavily.

"Should I get a nurse?" Morgan asked nervously.

"Give it a minute." Gideon said, holding up a finger to silence the dark skinned agent.

Reid was wheezing and clutching his stomach. "Gideon, he needs a nurse." Morgan said urgently.

"You didn't give it a minute." Gideon said. Reid's breathing gradually slowed and he looked at Gideon and Morgan as if he could finally see them.

"What the hell, Gideon?" He asked. He knew it was the older former profiler, partly because of the empty glass in Gideon's hand and partly because of the guilty look on his face.

"You weren't waking up." Gideon said. "You were having a nightmare, I assume."

Reid looked down at his lap and felt the tears run freely over his already soaked cheeks.

"Was it about Maeve?" Morgan asked softly. Reid looked at him with hurt and surprise. How could Morgan mention her so bluntly? "You were calling her name." Morgan stared at the ground. The sight of his friend crying again was too much for him to handle. He had seen Reid in so much pain.

Gideon wrapped an arm around Reid's shoulder. He had found out about Maeve from the team and felt horrible about what had happened to the only other girl he had gotten involved with since Lila Archer. The room was silent for a long time, save for Reid sobs that were let out into Gideon's shoulder. Finally, Gideon spoke up," _A pair of powerful spectacles has sometimes sufficed to cure a person in love._"

Reid glanced up at him. "Frederick Nietzche." He said. The entire team knew Reid could never argue with wise words such as those, such as those uttered or written by Shakespeare, Ayn Rand, Roberts Frost, Plato, Thomas Merton. . . Etc.

The young profiler pondered Gideon's words. Was it true? Was he being blinded by his love for Maeve? She was gone and nothing he did could change that. Yet, he needed to do something to fill the emptiness in his heart. Why was it so hard to move on? Maybe he just needed spectacles. He needed to see the truth. Maeve was gone. The hole in his heart was going to close. . . in time. He just needed to stop thinking about her. He needed to stop blaming himself.

As these thoughts raced through his agonizingly slow, he stopped. He blamed himself? Of corse he did. "It's all my fault." He whispered. He was staring down at his hands when Morgan said, quite loudly, "What?"

Reid jumped but kept his eyes trained downwards. He thought back to a conversation he'd had with Morgan and cried harder, ashamed his friends had to see him like this.

_"All right, kid. Talk to me." Morgan said, noticing Reid's extreme unease and lack of his usual charisma. This case was getting to him big time. He was wearing a familiar expression as he stared down at the ground. "I can tell you're adding something up in your head. What is it?"_

_ "2,412," Reid burst out before Morgan could even finish the sentence. He walked around him and turned to face his older colleague, still not looking him in the eye."It's the number of hours we spent communicating. Counting phone calls and letters." It was killing him. 2,412 hours. That wasn't enough._

_ Morgan didn't realize its significance. "That's about a hundred days." He said._

_ "100.5," Reid corrected, looking up to meet his colleague's gaze. "What if that's all I get?" His voice broke as he struggled not to cry._

_ "Well, it's not." Morgan said firmly._

_ Reid looked down again. "You can't say that." He said softly._

_ "Yes, I can." Morgan said with such confidence that Reid had to look up once more. "Because when we find her alive, and you finally get to lay your eyes on her, what's the first thing you're going to say to her?" Reid thought about this. He wasn't sure he needed to lay his eyes on her to know. She was the most beautiful girl in the world to him. He was crazy about her. And had never even gotten a chance to tell her how he felt. He would tell her that. He would tell her that he loved her._

_ Morgan was still waiting for an answer. Reid finally said, "A couple of months ago, we were getting off the phone, and she said, "Bye. Love you." Just like that. "Bye. Love you."" He repeated it again. Mostly for himself. It had been so easy for her to say it. Why couldn't he? He knew he loved her. Why hadn't he said it? "I know it was just a slip, but-"_

_ "But she said it, Reid." Morgan interrupted. "She said it." He realized what his friend was saying when he saw the pained look in his eyes. "You didn't say it back to her, did you?" He knew the answer._

_ Reid shook his head, taking a deep breath to keep his composure. "I was waiting for when we finally met." That's what he would say. When he first saw Maeve, he would say, "Hi, I'm Spencer. It's great to finally meet you in person. I love you." He could only imagine how they would take down the UNSUB. He prayed that Maeve wouldn't get hurt._

Thinking about this hurt too much. He had known what he wanted to saw. He had wanted to tell her he loved her, but done the exact opposite and told her he didn't in a desperate attempt to save her life. He had hurt her. . . and it hadn't even worked.

"It's not your fault, Reid." Morgan said, bringing him back to the present.

"Yes, it is. She killed Maeve because I lied to her." Reid said, the pain in his voice was heart breaking.

"No, she didn't" Morgan said firmly, scaring Reid so that he buried himself deeper into Gideon's chest. Morgan noticed his fear and softened his tone. "Diane killed Maeve because of Maeve rejecting her. It had nothing to do with you. She was stalking her before you came into the picture."

"But if I hadn't lied-"

"If you hadn't lied, you would be dead, too." Morgan finished. "I hate to say it, Reid, but you got off lucky." Reid cringed. "If you hadn't lied, she would have shot you, too"

"She did shoot me." Reid said. "In the arm. It was just a flesh wound, though." Morgan did remember hearing shots fired being the reason they entered the building. No one had really considered after that that she was shooting at Reid. "She _tried_ to kill me. I just moved her arm. . . and she missed. So me lying didn't help anything." Reid snapped. "I should have just killed that bitch."

"Reid," Gideon spoke up. "I wasn't there for this, but it sounds to me like you had no choice. It sounds like it wasn't your fault, and if you keep thinking it is, you're going to go insane and we may never get you back again. It's not your fault, but I understand that you miss her. You're allowed to. What was the last thing you said to her?"

Reid was overcome with remorse. "I said, "I don't love you." I was trying to play into Diane's wishes."

"Were those the very last words she heard from you?" Gideon asked.

Reid's eyes widened as he thought back to the rest of the interaction. "No. . . Diane kissed me and called me a liar and shot at me, then when the team came in, she had her gun to Maeve's head and I told her I wanted to make the deal, me for her. And I said I would kill myself for her." His eyes showed so much pain.

"So, she died knowing how much you loved her." Gideon said. Reid had never thought of that. He had only been focusing on what had upset her the most, but of course Maeve knew how he felt. She had known the minute Diane yelled, "Liar". Reid was comforted thinking this. Maeve had know that he loved her.

Reid yawned, his eyes were red and bloodshot from crying and his eyelids were drooping. He couldn't fight it any longer. As all the pent up guilt about Maeve's death left him, he fell asleep, still leaning against Gideon.

Gideon noticed Reid's breathing becoming light and regular and looked at the bed. "Go get another pillow." He whispered to Morgan upon seeing the soaking wet one that had been a result of Reid's bad dream and Gideon's not so gentle way of waking him up. Morgan got up and walked over to the closet, pulling out a pillow and a towel. Gideon took away Reid's wet pillow and Morgan put the towel down on the wet sheets, placing the towel on top of it. Gideon lay Reid down gently, then leaned back in his chair and closed his own eyes. Listening to Reid's pain had been excruciating and caused Gideon and Morgan to shed their own tears. They were both exhausted; neither had gotten much sleep at all and salty tears don't exactly keep one's eyes open.

They were both fast asleep so they didn't notice someone come in and sit by the bed. They didn't notice the girl holding the syringe and the tourniquet. They didn't notice the girl inject a small amount of Dilaudid into their friend's arm. A small enough amount that he wouldn't be out of it when they woke up, a large enough amount that he would start to get cravings. Jenny smiled and got up from the chair, closing the door quietly and taking the syringe and tourniquet with her.

She met Nurse Paisley in the hallway. "Hello, dear. Volunteering at this late hour?" Paisley, a kind middle aged woman with blond hair and blue eyes, greeted her warmly.

"Yes, ma'am. I couldn't sleep, so I figured I'd check in on my favorite hospital." Jenny said, grinning her charming grin full of straight white teeth.

"Oh, dear, you're an angel. But you know it's against protocol to allow volunteers during nonvisitation hours, don't you?" Paisley said with a mock serious face as the two started toward the nurses' station. It was extremely early in the morning and Paisley and another girl, Lulu, were the only two nurses there at that hour. Someone had to mind the store.

"Surely, you can bend the rules for your favorite volunteer." Jenny said innocently.

"Well, you can never have too much help, can you?" Paisley said, giving her a grateful smile. "Would you mind checking on Mr. Adams for me?"

"Not at all." Jenny said, taking the clipboard from Paisley.

"He's still in room 204, where he's been the past couple of months." Paisley said.

"I remember." Jenny said. And she followed the familiar route to Mr. Adam's room. She knew this hospital like the back of her hand. There was no way the FBI agents could find her here.

Jenny smirked as she thought about how stupid they were. They couldn't see what was right in front of them. She had even been there when they found Reid, yet none of them had given her a second glance. As she finished checking up on Mr. Adams, she pulled the badge and FBI credentials out of her pocket and looked down at them. Now was as good a time as any. She walked over to the nurses' station.

Paisley looked up. "Is everything alright, dear?" She asked.

Jenny nodded. "Oh, yes, everything's fine. I just wanted to let you know that I need to be going. Is there anyone else you need me to check up on?"

Paisley shook her head. "I think I can handle it. You do what you gotta do, dear." She said with a smile.

"Thank you, Paisley. Have a lovely day." Jenny said cheerily.

"You too, dear." Was Paisley's reply, but Jenny was already skipping down the hallway.

"Jenny, you do realize it's three in the morning, don't you?" Kirk grumbled as he opened the door to his apartment to see the happy, smiling firecracker he called his sister standing in the hallway.

"Yes, I know the time, bubba." Jenny said cheerfully, using a nickname she loved, but knew Kirk hated. "I just came over because I forgot to give you these." And with that she handed a gun, badge, and FBI credentials to her brother. He gaped at her

"Jenny, what have you gotten yourself into now?" He asked.

"Ask me no questions and I'll tell ye no lies." Jenny said mysteriously.

"Yeah, It's probably better that you don't tell me. I really don't want to know." Kirk said.

"Okay, fine I'll tell you." Jenny said.

"I really don't want to know, just tell me what I'm supposed to do with these things." Kirk said, holding up the gun uneasily in one hand and the badge and credentials in the other.

"Send them down to Amy in Nevada. She'll know what to do with them." Jenny said. "Tell her operation 'crazy bitch' is ready to be used in case I get arrested."

"Arrested?" Kirk asked.

"It's better that you not know." Jenny decided.

"You can't expect me to drive all the way to Nevada." Kirk said incredulously.

"Well, it's either that or hitchhiking. I don't want you to mail a loaded gun-"

"This thing's loaded?" Kirk cried, dropping the weapon, but Jenny caught it.

"Yes, be a man. Grow a set." Jenny said, handing him the gun. "Anyways, seeing as how you can't mail it and you can't fly to Nevada with a gun, and you're terrified of trains, I would suggest you drive. I must warn you, though. It would make you an accessory in a murder, or attempted murder at least. And assaulting of a Federal Agent. Actually, that was just me. Scratch that last one. "

Kirk stared at her, mouth agape. When he finally found his words, he said, "Nope, I am not going to jail for you." And he closed the door in his little sister's face.

He could hear Jenny out in the hall saying things like, "Kirk, open this door. Kirk, Kirk, Kirk,Kirk,Kirk,Kirk,Kirk,Kirk,Kirk,Kirk,Kirk,Kirk,Kirk,Kirk,Kirk" Repeating his name over and over was another arrow in her quiver of tricks she used to annoy him. She had been developing one since her terrible twos. " … . Kirk, please." He finally gave in when he heard her say, "Kirk, please. To heal my broken heart. To help me deal with the fact that she's gone. That they both are."

Kirk sighed and opened the door to see his sister with tears running down her pale cheeks. "Come here." He said, opening his arms. Jenny threw her arms around him and cried. "It's alright. . . I'll do it." He said. He couldn't stand seeing his sister this upset. If whatever was going on would help her move on, then he would just have to go along with it.


	3. Reichenbach

Gideon had taken off to look for Jenny again by inspecting Reid's apartment. The minute he opened the door, he turned away, sick. He was overwhelmed by an immense feeling of déjà vu as he looked at the message on the wall. Elle Greenaway . . . the Fisher King. . . "Rules". This was too damn familiar. Gideon wondered if anyone remembered that case. If they remembered Elle at all. The Fisher King was the reason that Elle had . . . left. Would the same thing happen to Spencer? He had been through way too much. It came with the job. Maybe Elle couldn't deal with it. . . Maybe Spencer could.

Spencer had been held hostage thrice, fallen in love with an actress being stalked by a dangerous psychopath, blown up, blamed himself for Elle's behavior, kidnapped and tortured, drugged, addicted, had to get over his addiction on his own, and that was before Gideon left. Since then, he had been held hostage-_again- _with Emily Prentiss in a religious cult and had to watch her being beaten and blamed himself, led to believe his father had killed someone, shot in the leg, lied to about a colleague's death, and had to watch the woman he loved shot right in front of him. And now this! Gideon was surprised Reid hadn't quit by now. All the crap seemed to happen to him. But then, the rest of the team didn't have the best of luck either. Gideon was glad he had left. It didn't do any good. Every time they caught a serial killer, two others seemed to appear. It just didn't help to stop them. It only hurt them. Gideon wished that Reid had just quit just like him. If Reid was his protégé, he should follow his example.

Gideon entered again and walked over to the blood smeared wall and flicked the light switch. The power was still out. The moonlight filtered through the windows and illuminated the message like a spotlight. Gideon stopped when he heard something. There was a slight whishing of wind. The CSI team had come- not finding any prints, indicating the UNSUB had worn gloves- and Hotch, Garcia, and Morgan had been to the scene, but in their shock and fear, they must have missed something. How unprofessional of them.

The window was open. Was Spencer really that careless? Even just leaving it unlocked was too apathetic of his favorite little genius. Gideon walked over to the window and pulled the curtain back. It had been smashed and the glass had been cleaned up off the floor. There was no fire escape, just a balcony; Jenny must have brought a ladder or something. But something wasn't right. Why didn't the neighbors report the noise? Garcia had heard a gunshot; wouldn't the neighbors have also heard it?

Gideon had an uneasy feeling as he walked out into the hallway and looked at the other apartments. There were two others on the floor. Gideon tentatively knocked on the door of the apartment next to Reid's. No answer.

"Anyone home?" Gideon called. No one answered. Gideon pulled out his ancient cell phone and called Garcia.

"Rainmaker, how wet do you want it?" Came Garcia's voice, full of concentration.

"Garcia, it's Gideon. I'm at Reid's apartment." Gideon answered.

"Oh." Was Garcia's reply. She sounded sick. "What do you need?"

"I was wondering why the neighbors didn't call the cops to report the noise. Are they away, by any chance?"

"What apartment?" Garcia asked.

"The ones surrounding his: 22 and 24." Gideon answered, peering around the hallway.

"Okay. . ." Garcia said and Gideon could hear keys clacking furiously. "Apartment 22 is the home of Clarissa and Arden Gorgian with their son, Jimmy. They are on vacation according to their facebook profiles and 24 is the home of one Kirk. . . Oh my god." Garcia said.

"What? What is it?" Gideon asked, alarmed. " Kirk who?"

"Kirk Strauss." Garcia said. "Reid lives next to Strauss' nephew-in-law"

Meanwhile. . .

Hotch was sitting by Reid's bedside as the young man sleep peacefully, which he was grateful for. Morgan had informed him of Reid's nightmare the night before and Hotch remembered when he first heard about the nightmares seeping into his charge's subconscious.

_Hotch and Gideon were standing in the bullpen of the police station. Gideon was on the phone with Garcia trying to figure out the identity of the skeleton on the trail and Hotch had come up to ask what information he had. As Gideon hung up and turned to the Unit Chief, Morgan appeared out of nowhere and said, "Hotch? Gideon?" He said. The two older profilers turned to him, sensing he had something important to tell them. Hotch had a feeling it had nothing to do with the case._

_ "What is it, Morgan?"Hotch asked._

_ "Well, remember that strangler case?" Morgan directed his question towards Gideon, who nodded with understanding._

_ "What about it?" Hotch asked._

_ "Morgan started having nightmares about the job because of the victims." Gideon said bluntly. Morgan glared at him, but shrugged._

_ "Oh." Hotch said. He remembered when he first started having nightmares. He guessed that Morgan hadn't told Gideon, he just knew. The same thing had happened with Hotch. His first nightmare had been a result of a particularly violent rape and murder resulting in the limbs being sawed off antimortem. It still made Hotch sick, but Gideon's words had helped, same thing that happened with Morgan._

_ "Are you still having nightmares?" Gideon asked Morgan, tearing away the sadistic scene in Hotch's mind and replacing it with the present. Morgan shook his head._

_ "Reid has been having some trouble with nightmares. I thought I should tell you both. He's having a hard time with it and he doesn't want anyone to know." As Morgan talked, he looked over his shoulder to make sure Reid wouldn't walk in and see Morgan betraying his trust. It was for his own good. _

_ Gideon looked at his colleague with sad eyes. Reid was the youngest of their team and they had done their best to protect him. They had avoided sending him to the morgues and crime scenes and tried giving him files with little to no pictures in them. But Reid hadn't been shielded entirely. He had seen things. Their efforts to screen him had failed on a number of occasions when they had been careless with the files, left the crime scene photos lying out, or brought Reid along on a raid, which they always did. They would bring the entire team on raids. If Reid found out what they were trying to do, he would be severely insulted and think they thought he was a gutless kid. They didn't think that at all, they just wanted to protect his innocence. But one can see a lot in twenty four years. And it had been affecting him no matter how hard they tried to protect him. In that second, Gideon and Hotch realized it might be time to stop shielding him._

_ "We'll talk to him." Gideon said to Morgan, who nodded and strode off, looking relieved. _

Hotch finished his water bottle absentmindedly as he was remembering and got up to go to the bathroom, tossing the empty bottle in the small trashcan as he opened the door.

Jenny wasted no time. As soon as Agent Hotchner left, she walked in with the syringe and tourniquet, already filled, and pressed it into Reid's arm in case her current plan failed. Then, putting the syringe back in her pocket and untying the tourniquet, Jenny proceeded and pressed her hand to Reid's mouth, holding his nose closed.

Reid's dreamless slumber was interrupted by the crashing of water over a cliff and a figure in front of him. There was a pen in one hand and three pieces of paper in the other, that has writing all over the paper. Reid looked down and caught the words, "My dear Watson". Reid looked up at the woman in front of him. It was Jenny. She was wearing an old fashioned brown suit and an evil grin on her face. He saw his ragged jacket and the alpine-stock leaning on the rock and suddenly realized what this was. He was Sherlock. Jenny was Moriarty. He was at Reichenbach Falls. And this was the Final Problem.

Reid certainly remembered this story. It was one of his favorites. The first time he had read it had brought tears to his eyes knowing this was the last Sherlock Holmes he would read. That might seem like an overreaction, but he was six years old at the time.

"Nice work, sending the good doctor away." Jenny was saying. "Of course, you couldn't let me kill your loyal dog, could you? I'm going to anyway."

"What?"

"Oh, don't worry. I promise them exquisite pain."

"Them?"

"The doctor and his wife. Mary. I am going to kill them slowly. You shouldn't have decided to die alone." Jenny smirked.

Reid knew what was supposed to happen. He knew the outcome of the story. He knew what he had to do. He sighed, put the note next to his alpine-stock, and said, "I won't die alone." He was surprised as he finally noticed they were both speaking in British accents. He didn't have time to ponder this though as he threw an arm around Jenny at the shoulders and pushed off the rock. They began to fall.

Reid noticed something in Jenny's pocket. Was it an oxygen tank? No, she was not getting out of this. As they continued to fall down the never ending waterfall , he reached for it, but Jenny fought back. Reid was driven, though. He couldn't let her slaughter his friends.

They kept falling and fighting and never hitting the water. Reid could hear someone yelling, "Holmes! Holmes!" over and over. Watson. How had Watson gotten there before they hit the water? How long had they been falling? Suddenly, the cries of, "Holmes", turned into, "What are you doing?" It wasn't Watson's voice. It was an American voice. It was Hotch's voice.


	4. Eagle Eyes

Jenny held her hand over Reid's mouth, sucking the life out of him with obvious enjoyment. Her eyes gleamed with mad delight as she watched him weakly try to toss his head and failed. The life was leaving him. Even if she failed in this attempt, there was still the drug overdose. He had been sleeping all day, would they notice him sleeping a little more until his heart stopped? Of course not. Just to be sure, Jenny took her free hand and turned Reid's arm over, placing it under the blanket, along with the other one to make it look less suspicious. All of a sudden, Jenny was aware of footsteps approaching the door. _Oh well,_ She thought. _Guess this gives me some time to escape_. She took her hand off his mouth and placed it on his forehead as Agent Hotchner walked in.

"What are you doing?" He asked sternly.

Jenny turned to face him with a carefree smile on her face. "I was just concerned that he had been sleeping all day so I had to check his forehead for a fever."

"He's probably just worked up." Hotchner said, still glaring at her from the doorway, his profiler side taking over and assessing the girl. She seemed to be telling the truth. Or she believed what she was saying. It didn't matter. Reid was safe as long as Hotch was there.

Jenny saw Hotchner let his guard down and inwardly congratulated herself on being such a damn good actress. _Maybe I should go into acting._ She contemplated this decision and realized acting would be very difficult in hiding, in prison, or dead, as these were three options she saw for herself.

"I just wanted to make sure he didn't have a fever." She explained.

"Well, does he?" Hotchner asked as he sat down and gestured to Reid. She shook her head. There was something so familiar about thing girl and he couldn't quite place it. Was it her voice? Yes, her voice. He had heard it before and her features were also very familiar. He tried to compare this girl to Jenny. Dark brown hair, yes. But it was straight, not curly. And she had brown eyes. Hotch noticed her eyes twitch, however. "Is there something wrong with your eyes?" He asked.

Jenny shook her head. "No, I just didn't get much sleep last night. They twitch a little when I'm tired." She certainly did look tired. She had bags under her eyes and her skin was pale. She looked almost as bad as Reid. She turned back to her patient. "When was the last time he woke up?"

Hotch blinked and then remembered Reid. He looked down on him and said, "This morning."

"What time?" She asked. She was staring at the genius with a blank look on her face, as if trying to hide her emotions, which she was. There was rage threatening to boil over every time she looked at this pathetic excuse for an FBI agent and she wanted to spit at him. But she made her facial expression neutral so that Agent Hotchner wouldn't suspect anything.

"Around two am." Hotch answered. Upon coming in, Morgan and Gideon had explained about his nightmare and the first thing he had asked was, "What time?"

Jenny nodded and finally Hotch couldn't take it anymore. "Do you work here?" He asked her, his stoic face turned towards her.

"Sometimes." Jenny answered vaguely.

"Your voice is very familiar." Hotch said. It wasn't easy to confuse her high tone of voice with anything else. She was shrill like a squirrel.

Jenny looked flattered. "I have been told that I sound like Bernadette from the Big Bang Theory." She said proudly.

"I have never seen that show," was Hotch's somewhat annoyed answer.

"Really? Oh, well, it's about four nerds- Sheldon Lee Cooper, Leonard Leaky Hofstader, Howard Joel Wolowitz, and Rajesh Ramayan Koothrapoli- and one hot chick- Penny, she's an actress who works at the Cheesecake Factory because she's not very good- who lives across the hall from Leonard and Sheldon, who live in the same apartment 4A in an apartment building on 2311 Los Robles, Pasadena California," Jenny was ranting in a manner that reminded Hotch of Reid and she was getting very excited about the show. "Howard is jewish and lives with his mother and Raj has this thing where he can't speak to women, selective mutism it's called. Anyway, Leonard has this huge crush on Penny and he finally asks her out at the end of season one, but it doesn't go very well in the beginning of season two and at the end of season two, they realize their feelings for each other- or rather Penny realizes her feelings for Leonard because he already knew he had a crush on her- when Leonard had to go to the north pole. When they get back at the beginning of season three, Leonard and Penny get together and Penny sets Howard up with Bernadette, this girl she knew from her job at the Cheesecake Factory and is also getting a PhD. Now, keep in mind, Howard is the only nerd without a doctorate but he doesn't mind because he's an engineer and they all work at CalTech. Leonard is an experimental-"

Hotch held up his hand to silence her. Her face was red and she hadn't even finished explaining the plot of the show. "Sounds. . . great." He said.

"Sorry," Jenny said. "I just love that show because I am such a nerd I love Star Trek and Lord of the Rings and all that fun stuff and so do the nerds on that show. I love Sheldon. He is SO AWESOME!" Jenny cried, flapping her arms as if she thought they were wings. "If Jim Parsons weren't gay I would. . . Anyway, Sheldon has an eidetic memory, an IQ of 187, and two doctorates." Jenny said with an enormous grin. She obviously loved the show.

"An eidetic memory and an IQ of 187,"Hotch said, looking down at Reid fondly. "That sounds familiar."

Jenny looked at her watch, knowing she had stayed too long. "I should be going." She said as she headed out the door. It suddenly occurred to Hotch that she had never explained how he recognized her, only went into a rant explaining her favorite tv show.

He stood and called, "Hey, what's your name?"

Jenny appeared around the doorway a few moments later still out in the hall and said, with a mischievous grin on her face, "Jenny." Then she disappeared again.

Hotch sat down. His brain was still processing all the trivial information this girl had thrown at him to realize that Reid's would be killer was named Jenny. He sat for a few moments, sorting through the useless Big Bang Theory trivia and then it hit him. Cursing himself for his own stupidity, Hotch jumped up and opened the door that Jenny had closed on her way out and dashed into the hallway, scaring several passersby in the corridor. Hotch looked around. There were too many directions she could have gone.

Hotch was still cursing at himself and based on the freaked out looks of the nurses milling around the nurses' station, he was saying them out loud. "You fucking idiot." He mumbled quietly as he approached the nurses' station, remembering that Jenny had said she sometimes worked there. Maybe some of the nurses knew her.

Paisley looked up as the man walked over to her. She had heard rumors around the hospital about an FBI agent with eagle eyes watching his fellow agent vigilantly. This man certainly looked like an eagle. She tried to stare him down, but was a bit intimidated. "May I help you, sir?" She finally asked in a shaky voice.

"There was a girl in my colleague's room"- colleague. Definitely FBI. Having been raised in the sixties, Paisley was a little scared of 'the man'- "her name was Jenny. She had dark hair and dark eyes."

"Oh, yes, Jenny. I know her." Paisley was a little confused. Jenny had green eyes, not dark eyes. But then she remembered that Jenny wore contacts and sometimes liked to wear colored ones, even though they made her eyes twitch.

"I need any information you have on her." Hotchner said.

"Information? I'm sorry, sir, she's just a volunteer. We have done background checks on all our volunteers and she volunteers here a lot but we only have information files on our staff." Paisley said, getting worried. What had Jenny done to make the FBI need to know her personal information? She gulped as she saw the murderous glare the agent was giving her.

"You let a volunteer take care of an FBI agent?" His voice was a dangerously low whisper. Paisley wished he would yell. It wouldn't be so scary if he would just yell at her.

"Sh-she volunteers here all th-the time. I tr-trust her w-with all my patients. Sh-she's harmless." Paisley stuttered in fear.

Hotch decided to lay off the poor woman. It wasn't her fault. No, how could it be? After all, she'd only just let a civilian walk in, pick up some scrubs and try to murder an FBI agent. Hotch took in a few deep breaths and turned to head back to Reid's room, but suddenly spun around to face a shaking Paisley again and say, "What's her last name?"

Paisley frowned, trying to remember. She just couldn't believe that sweet, innocent little Jenny could hurt someone. _I guess the murder of her aunt really set her off_. "It starts with an 'S'. Something german ish. Ummm. . . 'Strauss'. That's it. Jenny Strauss."

Hotch gasped and backed up a bit.

"What? What is it?" Jenny asked.

"Strauss. That's the name of my late former boss." Hotch said softly. The memory of her dying in his arms was still too painful to think about.

"Jenny's aunt died. Her name wouldn't happen to have been Erin, would it?" Paisley asked nervously. She never knew Jenny was related to someone in the FBI.

Hotch mutely nodded and turned on his heel to head back to Reid's room. He walked in and shut the door and let his head rest against it. Erin Strauss had a niece. Erin Strauss had a psychopathic niece. _Well at least now we know why Jenny was so bitchy_ Hotch thought. He tried to laugh weakly but instead let out a sob. Tears rolled down his cheeks.

_ "I don't want to die alone"_ Strauss's last word to him as he held her and told her she wouldn't be alone. She had sobbed into him and died.

Hotch opened his eyes, trying to get away from the painful memory. They were losing team members left and right. First Elle, then Gideon, then Seaver, then Prentiss, then Strauss. He couldn't take it anymore. At least he could protect his shattered team from any more danger.

Hotch sighed as he sat down, then noticed something was off. What had Jenny been doing before he had walked in? Something was out of place. Something in the way Reid was positioned wasn't right. It took Hotch a minute to figure it out. Reid's arms were under the blanket. They hadn't been like that when Hotch had left. Jenny had moved them. Why? Hotch had a sick feeling that he already knew as he pulled Reid's arms out from under the blanket and turned them over.

Sure enough, Reid's right arm revealed the memorable and familiar needle marks. Dilaudid.


	5. The Neighbor

Hotch finally regained his composure and went out to find a doctor. Paisley, the nurse he had been talking to earlier, noticed his distress and asked him what was going on.

"My friend-colleague- he's been drugged. I think he's been overdosed." Hotch said, panicked.

"With what?" Paisley asked fearfully. She didn't like this happening at all. Jenny was such a sweet girl. She would never do something like this. No, this government man was lying. The government always lies. Always. Paisley remembered her defiance of 'the man' being decided in a smoke filled room with the pungent scent clinging to her nose as it made her higher than a kite.

No. No, drugs are bad. This FBI agent wouldn't lie about someone being drugged. 'The Man' wasn't that unethical. And they would be finding out if he was lying in seconds. No this was the truth. His friend was in trouble. And it was all because of her friend.

"Dilaudid." Hotch answered, interrupting her thoughts. Drug store heroin. If he was overdosed, they wouldn't have much time. Paisley alerted Lulu to get Dr. Demani as she rushed into the room and saw the frail form of the Eagle Eyed man's colleague with his arm resting in an odd position on his stomach with the crook of the elbow facing up. There were two cuts on his arm from where the needle had penetrated his pale skin, surrounded by older cuts that looked like scars and were eerily similar to the new ones on his vein.

Dr. Demani walked in and assessed the situation as she put two fingers on his neck to check his pulse. Another nurse walked in and passed a frozen and pale Hotch. He couldn't see Reid go through this again. It broke his heart he had gone through it once; as well as the fact that he had had to do it alone. "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave now." Dr. Demani said and a nurse opened the door for Hotch, who nodded mutely and walked out, pulling out his cell phone and calling Garcia.

"Bossman, I am so glad you called I have some shocking news." Came Garcia's excited voice.

"Garcia, listen-" Hotch said, not interested in whatever she had to say.

"No, you listen, Reid's neighbor-"

"Garcia." Hotch said firmly. This silenced the technical analyst and she awaited the rest of his update. "Reid's been drugged."

"What are you talking about? What do you mean drugged?" Garcia's voice was laced with genuine confusion.

"Dilaudid. Jenny was here- at the hospital. I saw her but I didn't know it was her. She was in Reid's room and when she left, I realized who she was but it was too late and I couldn't find her. I talked to a nurse, and she said she was a volunteer. Garcia," Hotch took a deep breath to steady his voice. "Her name is Jenny Strauss. She's related to the former Section Chief."

"Oh my god." Garcia said. "Let me focus on one thing at a time. . . Reid's been drugged. Overdose?"

"Yes." Hotch answered grimly.

"I'll alert the team. . . .Jenny Strauss. Wow. Hotch, you are not going to believe this, but Reid's next door neighbor is named Strauss. Kirk Strauss. I did some digging on him. He is Strauss' nephew and he had two sisters, Jenny and Amy. I should have realized it sooner. That's how Jenny got into Reid's apartment. There's a balcony, but no fire escape. She must have gone through her brother's apartment, climbed over the balcony, and punched a hole in the window or something. And that's why no neighbors called the cops about the noise. The other family was away." Garcia sounded excited and shocked at this new information. "And that's how Jenny knew the team. Her aunt was our boss, of course she would at least know her name. Maybe that's why she tried to kill Reid."

Hotch shook his head. "It doesn't make sense, though. It wasn't Reid's fault. It didn't really have anything to do with Reid. And if she wanted revenge on the team, she had ample opportunities." He could hear keys clacking as Garcia researched Jenny Strauss.

"Okay, so this girl reads off like a saint. She volunteers at hospitals, libraries, shelters, sanitariums, you name it. But she also has a part time job at. . " Garcia chuckled at the coincidence. "The Maryland House."

Hotch suddenly remembered where he had seen Jenny before. She was the girl behind the counter when they had found Reid. She was right there! Hotch fumed at their stupidity. She was right there. "I'll call the team." Garcia said, obviously trying to avoid hearing Hotch's inevitable outburst. Hotch hung up and threw his phone at the ground in anger. She had been underneath their noses the entire time. And that was her best hiding spot.

**Well, It's obvious you have already read it since you got to this message at the bottom so please review. They are much appreciated. Sorry it's so short. I'm hoping the pieces are finally falling into place. Leave a comment if I missed anything in the case that was never explained. **


	6. Shit Happens

When the team arrived at the hospital, they saw something they never thought they would see and hoped they wouldn't ever again. Hotch was crying. There was a steady stream of tears running down his cheeks as he silently berated himself for being so stupid. It stopped the entire team in their tracks. When was the last time they had seen Hotch cry like this? The team remembered hearing Hotch cry as he held the dead body of his former wife and mother of his child. But they hadn't looked. They hated seeing him so broken. Whatever had happened, it must have been really bad.

"Hotch?" JJ asked tentatively, stepping forward slowly.

Hotch looked up at them and the team, minus Gideon, all started remembering Reid's face when Maeve had died. Openly crying, blaming himself, sobbing uncontrollably. Hotch kept a little more composure than Reid, but it was obvious he hated himself at the moment.

"What happened, Aaron?" Rossi demanded.

"She was here, Dave." Hotch said quietly, wiping away his tears impatiently. "Jenny was here. She drugged him. Overdose. I left for five minutes. And I didn't realize it was her. I let her get away." Hotch swallowed and stared at the ground. "I let her get away." He whispered, then stood up and punched the wall in a manner that reminded everyone of Morgan. "Sometimes a man wants to be stupid if it lets him do a thing his cleverness forbids." He sat down again and shook his head sadly. "John Steinbeck."

"You're not stupid, Hotch." Blake said.

"Were you not listening? I let her get away! I left the room to allow her to overdose him and if he dies it's my fault!" Hotch said angrily.

"It's not your fault, Aaron." Gideon said softly, sitting down in the seat next to Hotch. Hotch continued to curse under his breath. "Aaron, don't blame yourself; you know Reid wouldn't want you to." Hotch looked up at him and the expression on his face was one the team couldn't quite place. Relief? Gratitude? Sorrow? Remorse? They couldn't tell, but it didn't take a profiler to tell that Hotch didn't feel much like talking anymore. JJ sat on the other side of him and put her hand on his knee comfortingly. Morgan, Rossi, and Blake sat silently on the other side of the waiting room.

After a while, Garcia rushed in. "How is he?" She said in a frantic voice. Her query was met with shrugs and murmurs of, "We don't know." Garcia sighed and plopped down next to JJ, glaring at Hotch conspicuously.

Morgan noticed this. "It wasn't his fault, Garcia." He said and the usually perky blond turned to him with rage in her eyes. "It could have happened when any one of us was here." Garcia softened when she looked at Hotch again as she realized how upset he was. His misery was radiating off him in huge waves that engulfed the entire team (plus Gideon).

Hotch rubbed his forehead and sighed. "Why is it always Reid?" He asked softly as he sat up.

"What?" Rossi called across the room.

"It's always Reid, isn't it?" Hotch said louder. "Every time shit happens to someone, it has to be Reid."

The team nodded in agreement, but Gideon looked incredulous. "Bull shit." He said. Everyone stared at him. They had never heard Gideon curse. They didn't know if it was scary or funny, so they just stared, waiting for an explanation. "It's not always Reid." He said. "It is _a lot_ but not always. You guys have had some shit thrown at you, too." The team had blank looks on their faces, obviously still shocked at Gideon's words. "Aaron-" Gideon turned to the man beside him. "You had to beat a fellow colleague in order to give him your gun and I know you feel terrible about that, you were blown up, had to watch an agent die, and was almost stabbed to death by a serial killer that killed your wife. JJ,-" The blond looked up at him. "Your sister committed suicide when you were young, you were blamed for Reid being kidnapped –" Morgan shifted uncomfortably. "Attacked by dogs, had to lie about a colleague's death, had to deal with Reid being angry with you-which I somewhat understand-, and your husband was shot and kidnapped, putting your entire family at risk. Garcia-" Garcia was shaking, so Gideon softened his tone. "Your parents died in a car accident when you were eighteen, you were shot on a date, then attacked again.

Morgan, you watched your father die and turned to Bufurd-" Morgan's eyes were filling with tears as he silently asked Gideon to shut up. "He sexually abused you, you were arrested based on a profiler of you provided by me, you were attacked by the Reaper and he used your credentials later, you were attacked by a serial killer who killed a friend right in front of you and kidnapped his daughter, and almost blew yourself up to save a hospital. David Rossi, you lost your son and your first wife and had some _very_ personal connection to Section Chief Strauss and risked getting yourself blown up to kill the replicator. And Alex Blake, your brother was killed intervening in an armed robbery, the Replicator abducted you and wired you with explosives because of some kind of vendetta against you.

"So, Reid does get into a lot of trouble. He's a trouble magnet. But, so are you guys. You shoulder some of the pain." Gideon finished, relishing the stunned look on everyone's faces. It took a while for someone to speak up.

"How did you know all that, Jason?" Hotch asked.

"You didn't think I would just forget all about you guys, did you? I've been keeping tabs on you." Gideon said, looking down sheepishly. He glanced up to see Garcia's tearful grin.

They were all looking around at each other, not knowing what to say, digesting Gideon's words when JJ's cell phone rang. She jumped a little as the ringing echoed throughout the quiet waiting room and pulled it out quickly.

"Agent Jareau." She answered. Her face fell as she listened. "I'm sorry, sir, we can't one of our agents is down.. . Dr. Spencer Reid. . . It was reported by our technical analyst. . . But, sir- . . . I understand, sir, we'll be right there." JJ sighed and hung up, turning towards her team mates. "We have a case." She said softly. "We have to leave."


	7. Of Dead Flowers and Broken Hearts

The team stared at her. Morgan was just barely able to keep from punching the wall as Hotch had moments earlier.

"You're kidding," Blake whispered. They couldn't leave now! Reid needed them!

JJ shook her head sadly. "Section chief Cruz just called me. I tried to tell him about Reid but he said that this case gets priority since there haven't been any murders from Jenny-"

"That we know of," Morgan interrupted. "Reid is an FBI agent. Surely that's more important than-"

"We have to take it," JJ cut in. "He can assign Jenny's case to another department until we come back. We really don't have a choice, guys." She stood up resignedly. "Come on, I have to brief you on the case."

No one else moved. They just sat there, silently fuming. Gideon sighed. "He's your boss. Garcia and I will stay with Reid as much as we can and update you if there are any changes."

Garcia nodded vehemently. "Go, you guys."

Morgan stood and all but stomped out of the waiting room like a child throwing a tantrum. Hotch stood shakily and Rossi and Blake schooled their expressions to become stoic. Garcia and Gideon watched them go as the blonde took out her IPAD and initiated a video chat with Morgan.

Back at the office, the team sat silently around the conference table with Garcia's image on the tablet in the middle.

"This is weird," She said sadly as she was plugging in her laptop. "I'm usually passing out the case file to the hater of trees by now."

"Let's not focus on Reid," JJ said quickly. "H-he'll be. . . He'll be okay."

Morgan's knuckles were practically turning white as he clenched them, hating this feeling of helplessness and the anger that came with it. He could imagine Reid making a Star Wars Jedi or even an X-men: First Class reference about that and clenched his jaw.

"Okay, this is FBI jurisdiction as it has crossed state lines," JJ began. "The most recent is in Las Vegas, Nevada."

Morgan looked up, shocked. Had he heard her correctly? Was fate so cruel that as Reid lay in a hospital bed, fighting for his life, they were investigating a murder in his home town? How could he forget about Reid now? They would never be able to focus. Everything in Las Vegas reminded them of their magician that always beat them at cards, put together a star puzzle in mere seconds, and had a sleight of hand that had come in useful on some cases.

The rest of the team seemed to be thinking the exact same thoughts.

"Did you say, L-las Vegas?" Garcia asked shakily from her screen. JJ nodded.

"Are you _fucking _ kidding me!?" Morgan yelled.

"Calm down, Agent Morgan." Hotch said softly. He motioned for JJ to continue with a shaky hand.

"The, uh, the first victim was in Quantico, Virginia," JJ read. "One Darren Sacren." She clicked her remote and a picture of a man about Morgan's age with darker skin appeared, looking rather gloomy. "The next victim was in Maryland, Janice Perrine," an attractive brunette appeared, dark brown eyes shining as her face scrunched up in a cheerful smile. The sight of her made Morgan's heart twist as her body, slashed and bloody, showed up in the picture next to her. "The next four victims were found in the Las Vegas area, Alfred Eelman-" An old man with bags under his eyes and little to no hair- "Jenna Nagar"- A dirty blonde dressed in her pastor's robe with a large grin on her face and a bible tucked under her arm- "Joan Creeran"- a rather grumpy looking middle aged woman with sandy brown hair- "And Joseph Entle" –A young college aged kid hugging a golden retriever.

"How can we tell this is the same person?" Hotch inquired in his monotone voice reserved for such heart wrenching cases.

"Because every single one had the same symbol carved into their back." JJ clicked the remote again and a bloody back was shown that had an image that looked like a shattered heart being the source of the gore. "Images of these crimes were not released to the public which means we either have a serial killer that's settled in Las Vegas for a while or someone on the inside felt it necessary to imitate these crimes, which is unlikely."

"A broken heart," Morgan said softly, wishing Reid was here to spout some seemingly unnecessary fact about this symbolism that would turn out useful later. Instead, another voice commented in a Reid-like manner.

"'Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead.'  
Oscar Wilde." Gideon said from off screen. Garcia tilted the tablet towards him but he just shook his head.

"Well, flowers ain't the only thing that's dead." Morgan said bitterly as he glanced at the image of the abused back on the screen.


End file.
